NYCAdams
© Hans Pennink/AP/File/Thomas Habr/Unsplash/KJNNew York City Mayor Eric Adams
New York City Mayor Eric Adams made another attempt at halting the city's landmark right-to-shelter policy that has been in place for over four decades. He asked a judge to suspend the mandate given the influx of immigrants.

In a letter to Erika Edwards, a New York Supreme Court justice, Adams asked the judge to consider temporarily suspending the city's legal obligation to uphold its offer of a "right to shelter" to anyone within its borders who requests. The right to shelter comes from a 1981 consent decree that established the mandate, making New York the only major city in the country to do so.

"We seek only the immediate relief that present circumstances demand. New York City has done more than any other city in the last 18 months to meet this national humanitarian crisis," the letter sent Tuesday reads. It explained that the officials do not seek to overturn the mandate — only to modify or temporarily suspend it.

Over 100,000 asylum-seekers have come through New York City's shelter system, and the city is projected to spend over $4 billion dollars this year to provide shelter and services to immigrants. New York leaders have pleaded for federal and local help as the immigrant crisis is expected to create a $12 billion budget deficit.

In May, Adams asked a judge to suspend the policy, asking for relief for adults if the city runs out of resources for them. That request came weeks after Adams issued an executive order loosening the city's legal obligations on right-to-shelter rules, which barred families with children from being placed in congregate settings, and set a deadline for newly arriving families to be placed in shelters.

A legal battle is currently playing out between the city and the Legal Aid Society, which filed the lawsuit that led to the right to shelter.

The Legal Aid Society and the Coalition for the Homeless wrote in a joint statement responding to Adam's second attempt to gut the mandate:
"The City's shameful revised application would go far beyond limiting its obligation to provide some form of emergency shelter to asylum seekers and other new arrivals.

"If successful, the City would have the ability to declare an emergency, and effectively end the Right to Shelter for thousands of New Yorkers — including working poor individuals who rely on the shelter system and, alarmingly, individuals who rely on disability benefits."
The city has opened 210 sites so far, but officials are still overrun with the rising number of immigrants and continue to push for federal aid. Last month, the Biden administration announced work permits for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan immigrants, adhering to a request from New York leaders such as Adams.

The latest plea is part of the monthslong spurring among Democrats in the city and federal officials. The Adams administration announced in July it would hand out flyers to immigrants at the border, telling asylum-seekers not to relocate to New York City.

The most recent court letter states:
"The City will simply have the same obligations as all other jurisdictions throughout New York State. And the City will have significantly more flexibility in its response to the present crisis."